Hi bitz424,
I’m guessing you mean a bunkie board such as this?
If this is the case then with the bunkie board over the slats you would be fine.
If you wanted a more ventilating and breathable surface for your mattress … then you could also add more slats or a new slat system where the gaps were closer together and put the mattress directly on the slats.
Phoenix
I was looking at my existing foundation and it seems to be very sturdy, higher quality wire that is in a wooden frame. Wires in sets of 3 and then a 5 inch gap and then another set of 3, etc. It seems as though it could support a latex bed, but it’s 10 years old. Do you recommend I replace it because of it’s age?
Also, my current mattress is 12 inches and I was looking at the 6 inch latex mattresses. I don’t want to lose 6 inches of height! Maybe a dumb question but…Would it be ok to put a new wooden slat foundation on top of the 10 year old foundation in order to make up for the loss of 6 inches?
Thanks,
Hi FavoriteHOMEboy,
I’m not sure I “get” what you are trying to describe but if there are 5" gaps across the whole width of the foundation in between the “sets” of 3 wires then I believe this would be too wide a gap for latex. A picture (or an online link to something similar) may help me visualize what you are describing though. The age wouldn’t matter as much as the condition and how evenly supportive and rigid it was in all areas of the foundation.
What is your current foundation sitting on and how much height do you have from the top of your current mattress to the floor? I wouldn’t particularly trust two foundations on top of each other in terms of stability or flex but there may be better ways to get closer to the total height you want.
Phoenix
Hi…I completely agree with you that for buying foam mattress or any other one the most crucial parts are know by the manufacturer only. They know better what suits you the most and what to buy according to requirement. If you want to buy a mattress that will be very comfortable and suit you, ask your manufacturer for any queries.
I am shopping for a latex mattress but would like to know if it can be placed directly on my current box spring?
Hi Gvkauffman,
I’m assuming that by “box spring” you mean a base that actually flexes and has some type of springs in it rather than a foundation which has no flex at all?
Either way though, assuming it is suitable for the mattress, if it is still in “new” condition with no weak, or softer areas or sags, and still has a firm even surface like when it was new it would be OK. Post #2 here may also help.
Phoenix
Hello all,
A unique foundation carried by http://www.usboxspring.com/metal.htm was brought to my attention by someone that I trust and respect and I thought it was great value and would bring it to the attention of the forum.
It has a solid steel base (which will probably last decades) and in the original design had flexible slats similar to many European designs. The slats though were too flexible though and didn’t provide the kind of solid base that was necessary for a heavy latex mattress so they added flat slats in between the flexible slats to create a very solid non flexing surface.
The beauty of this design with the added slats is that you can add or remove any of the solid slats as necessary to provide some extra flex under certain parts of the mattress to allow it to sink in more (such as under the shoulders) similar to many tension adjustable foundations. This would be particularly useful for thinner all latex mattresses. You can also remove the flexible slats and replace them with solid slats available at any lumber store.
It also is a KD (knock down) design similar to others that you can put together yourself at home in about 15 minutes so it can be shipped anywhere by UPS. It also has a thin fabric (unquilted) cover.
The prices exclude shipping and are a great value for those who want the best of a strong slatted foundation and a flexible slat base that can be customized for where it is firm and where it is softer.
They are available in Twin, Queen, and California King (no Twin XL or Eastern King) and are in limited supply so when they are gone they are gone.
Phoenix
Hi Phoenix,
Did you mean to attach a link for this foundation to this post?
Claudia
Hi rceisland,
Oops …
I added a link to it in the original post of the thread but I missed adding the link in post #15 of the thread.
I’ve fixed the link and I appreciate you bring it to my attention 
Phoenix
Hi Phoenix,
I just want to thank you in advance for your help. There’s a lot of useful information on this site and I’ve really learned a lot from lurking the past couple days.
I’m thinking of getting the Ultimate Dreams Latex Mattress and need an Ikea bed frame to go with it. I live in NYC and move apartments quite frequently so Ikea was the logical choice given it’s cheaper and convenient.
My question has to do with the slatted bed base options from Ikea. You’ve pretty much laid out the differences between the types offered by Ikea (solids slats, flexible slats, and adjustable flexible slats). From what you’ve written it looks like the solid slats are the best choice for a latex mattress - Would it be fair to say the Ikea Sultan Lade (Products - IKEA) fits this description? Do you know if the Lade slats are no more than 3’’ apart? How well do you think these slats would compliment (or detract from) the Ultimate Dreams latex mattress?
Do you think there would be any benefit of getting the Luroy (flexible slats) given the thickness of the Ultimate Dreams mattress? I’m planning on getting a firmer mattress, so i’m not sure if the “bounce” factor of the flexible slats would be a positive thing.
I’ll definitely reach out to Chuck but wanted to get your input as well. Thanks!
Hi cheeseburger,
Yes. Generally if there are 14 or more slats (queen) then it would work and the slats wold be about 3" apart. In your case as well … the base of your mattress is polyfoam which is not as flexible as latex so a little wider gaps would also be fine.
I think it would work well because with the exception of a thinner mattress (say around 6" or so) that may require some flex underneath as part of the design … a firm rigid foundation usually works best with an all foam mattress.
I think that the flex foundation would not be the best idea and could be a little “risky” in some cases where the extra flex could cause some alignment issues if the mattress by itself worked well (on a solid foundation). There may also be a few cases though where someone chose a mattress that was a little firm and the extra flex could provide the bit of fine tuning that they needed but the effect of the flexible slats would be reduced with a thicker mattress. I would tend to go with the solid slats unless your actual experience on the mattress indicated that you may be one of those that could benefit from the flexible slats (and you wanted to keep a firmer surface rather than add a softer topper).
Phoenix
First I want to say thinks for this great thread. I was about to give up trying to figure out the pros and cons of the different options.
Three questions:
I would prefer a low profile foundation and Palmettomattress,com was listed in the 1st post with “low_profile” in the URL. Unfortunately that site is no more. Does anyone know if they have just changed hands or names and maybe has a new link?
Does anyone know of other sources for low profile knock down foundations that haven’t been mentioned? I want a knock down because it will be for a King bed and I don’t want a two piece (i.e 2 Twin XLs)
I am particularly interested in the foundations mentioned in post #15. Their web site is apparently out of date and has conflicting or confusing info. I’m waiting to get some clarifications from them but would also like to hear from anyone who has one of these metal foundations.
Among the outdated info on the site is videos and assembly instructions for a completely wood KD foundation that they apparently no longer sell. That model is clearly inferior to the other wood KDs mentiond in the thread and in big ways. That makes me nervous.
Thanks
Hi HoosierDaddy,
That’s very strange. I just called them and the phone is still active (although they wereclosed) so I’ll try to call them during business hours to see what happened to their website. Perhaps their registration just ran out. In any case I’ll ost here (and edit the foundation thread if necessary) when I find out anything.
This is actually a new listing on their site because they used to have the more traditional KD foundations (without the metal frame) and I guess they haven’t yet changed the video.
They do come in both low profile (5") and regular profile (10").
These two are the only two low profile KD foundations that I was able to find.
I’m curious what the lower quality issues were that you noticed on the video.
Many of the KD foundations that you see around the web (and many other foundations as well) are made by the same manufacturer (CPS wood products).
Phoenix
Thanks for calling Palmetto. I didn’t know any phone number to try.
Thanks for mentioning CPS. I wondered who actually made some of these. Many retailers sell an identical (based on specs and pictures) foundation under various names.
Below are a few of the pictures that bothered me on USBoxSpring’s site. If you click on their assembly link you will see its broken, but if you just type it in manually (http://www.usboxspring.com/assembly.htm) you will get there.
Notice the corners are not as well braced (nor smoothed) and the pieces just butt together rather than any dovetail or dado. The video on that page shows it even better. I understand they don’t sell these anymore but since it was an inferior (IMO) wood foundation, I worry they may have the same target audience for other products.
Hi HoosierDaddy,
I’ve been doing some research into some of the KD foundations lately to find out the size of the gaps (nobody seemed to know or at least they weren’t listed) and it turns out that most of them have gaps between the slats that are a little over 4" and have 12 slats).
The new versions of the Nature’s Sleep have gaps that are just over 3" (I had someone actually measure them). I thought they may be a little less because they have 14 slats but the slats are only 2.5" wide.
I’m not sure how wide the gaps were between the slats for the old versions at US Boxsprings that are in the video but it seems that they may have been in the range of 3" and had 14 slats. I can see what you mean by the rough looking lumber but based on feedback from other KD foundations some of them at least also aren’t the smoothest finish or the highest quality wood. It’s probably a moot point though because they’ve been replaced with the metal ones. The person who told me about the new metal ones is an industry old timer that I trust and he was very familiar with them. He was quite impressed with them and told me about them so I could include them on the site because inexpensive slatted KD foundations that work well for all latex mattresses aren’t so easy to find). They also have the added advantage of having the flexible slats that can be used for fine tuning if necessary by removing some of the non flexing slats in between them.
The reason I wanted to find out the gap sizes for sure is because for an all latex mattress the gaps should be around 3" or less while for a mattress that has a polyurethane base the wider gaps would be fine.
Phoenix
The width of the gaps and slats are among the questions I’m waiting to hear back from them on. I’ll post what they say.
For sure the pictures of their metal foundation are more impressive than the ones of the wood one they used to sell.
I’d like to throw out another foundation that I considered.
Its sold (made?) by Tempur-Pedic: http://www.tempurpedic.com/Foundations/Low-Split-CA-King-Ecru-Foundation-116_381-opt.aspx?
Its apparently a solid box (MDF) with a cover. Its available in two colors and in two heights.
I decided against this because I wanted some ventilation for the bottom of the foam mattress and because I stumbled on a few complaints of squeaking in 3rd party reviews. Plus I always dislike any product that has price controls and these definitely do. They are the exact same price everywhere they are sold and its not a bargain price considering what they are.
Hi HoosierDaddy,
While there is no doubt that the Tempurpedic foundation is strong … I would also tend to lean towards a slatted or grid type foundation that allowed for more ventilation whenever that was possible. While in some cases (such as choosing an adjustable bed or when a specific foundation is part of a warranty) … a solid surface foundation may end up as the final choice … at least the tradeoff would be for a good reason.
While there are many that would argue with this and who believe that a solid foundation is “better” … I am of the view that when possible the choice for better ventilation is a more desirable choice because it can improve humidity control and temperature regulation and it can also create a better microclimate which can be more effective in reducing the odds of “attracting” unwanted visitors such as mold, mildew, and dust mite populations by using non chemical methods. If the slatted foundation is well built and has enough slats then the support of the foundation doesn’t have to be compromised by the choice of slats. While a solid surface foundation may still have only low odds of these types of issues in most cases (depending on the environment and all the other variables involved) … my preference would still be towards a more ventilating support system.
Phoenix
Phoenix,
What is your opinion of the King Size Ultimate Dreams Latex mattress on the Sultan Laxeby from Ikea with one of their beds? Is this combination something that will last?
Also I am debating the 3 different king latex mattresses that Ultimate Dreams offers. Can you give your opinion on the material differences between the Ultra Plush, Natural Latex, and Eurotop? I’m 6’1" 220lbs and prefer probably a 7, but have concerns with “bottoming out” on the 3" latex top. Is this an unfounded concern?
Thanks! This site has been so helpful in making this decision!
Hi chaoticelf13,
Bottoming out is actually a function of the entire mattress not one particular layer and only happens when the entire mattress has compressed to its maximum which won’t happen with any of their mattresses. The comfort layers of these mattresses are 4.5" (the quilting foam and the latex) and the latex can be chosen for firmness level so the goal is to “go through” softer comfort layers just enough so that the transition into the firmer support layers is “just right” without the firmness of the lower layers coming through too much for some body types or the comfort layers themselves being too firm for comfort/pressure relief for others. They are very good at helping you choose.
The Ultra Plush and the Eurotop use the same materials (your choice of firmness level of blended Talalay latex) with 1.5" of quilting foam over it and a high quality polyfoam base. The extra benefits of the Eurotop are listed in post #2 here.
The Natural latex model uses 100% natural Dunlop latex with wool in the quilting (which is a more costly component which adds to the ventilation, moisture regulation, and temperature control of the mattress as well as being used for the fire barrier)
You can read about some of the differences between Dunlop and Talalay in this article and post #6 here.
All of the Dreamfoam options are very good quality and value but of course each offers different options that may be more important to some and less to others.
The Sultan Laxeby is also good value IMO for those who are looking for a tension adjustable flexible slat base.
As far as the Ikea beds go I don’t really know their quality/value or their strength and I haven’t researched the materials (many of them seem to use either particle board or MDF which is stronger) At least they are very inexpensive. I would guess that they would at least be strong enough to hold the mattress and the people on it in most cases as long as the slat system was appropriate to the mattress (which the Laxeby is if you prefer a tension adjustable version over a firm slatted non flexible base).
You may want to try the mattress on a firm non flexing base (or even temporarily on the floor) before deciding on whether you would need or would even want the flexible slats because they may work either for or against you. In most cases foam mattresses (except fot those that are thinner) tend to do best on rigid non flexing slats although in some cases the tension adjustable features of the Laxeby may come in handy for fine tuning. The flexible slats would have much less effect on a thicker mattress.
Phoenix
Thank you so much for all your information that you’re giving here Phoenix this is a really great site unlearning so much and I narrowed down my decision and I have hopefully found my dream bed.